As feds look to replenish fisheries, catch limits decried at rally

Tuesday

Apr 30, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 30, 2013 at 2:17 PM

Frustrated by the response of federal fishing regulators, top Bay State politicians on Monday decried new catch-limits on fishermen set to take effect in two days that they said could cripple the fishing industry in Massachusetts, while Gov. Deval Patrick has sought to intervene with the White House to protect the livelihoods of fishermen.

Matt Murphy/STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

Frustrated by the response of federal fishing regulators, top Bay State politicians on Monday decried new catch-limits on fishermen set to take effect in two days that they said could cripple the fishing industry in Massachusetts, while Gov. Deval Patrick has sought to intervene with the White House to protect the livelihoods of fishermen.

In an attempt to guard against overfishing and allow populations of haddock, cod and yellowtail flounder to replenish, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is set to implement new restrictions on May 1 reducing the amounts of fish that boats from around New England can catch by as much as 78 percent.

Fishermen, scientists and elected officials have questioned the science used to set the catch-limits, and have called for a less drastic one-year reduction in fishing limits by 40 percent. Additional funding for research into the groundfish stocks off the Atlantic Coast of New England is also being sought, officials said.

Patrick has written multiple letters to Congressional leaders and the U.S. Commerce Department seeking assistance, and last Thursday spoke with Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett about his request for an interim measure to postpone deep reductions to fishing limits.

So far, attempts to secure disaster relief or forestall the catch-limit reductions before Wednesday have been unsuccessful, but leaders said they would not give up. NOAA on Monday insisted the limits were necessary.

“The fishermen do not want to take all the fish out of the ocean. That’s not sustainable for them over the long haul. It’s not going to be a business they can then hand to their children and their grandchildren. Everyone’s looking for sustainability. The fishermen want good science and something that doesn’t wipe out their entire industry between now and when the stocks are replenished,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said on Monday.

Warning of a “catastrophic perfect storm of circumstances” that could cripple the fishing industry in Massachusetts, fishermen from Gloucester to New Bedford gathered at the Fish Pier in South Boston on Monday to urge the Obama administration to overrule NOAA and postpone the reduction in catch-limits for 2013.

A dozen public officials, including Warren and interim U.S. Sen. Mo Cowan, rallied on the pier under blue skies. They also called on Congress to approve disaster relief funding for fishermen impacted by the new rules.

At times heckled by angry fishermen during the course of the rally, NOAA Regional Administration John Bullard, a former mayor of New Bedford, stood silently for almost two hours as elected official after official criticized his agency for refusing to intervene.

Bullard said he sympathized with the fishermen and agreed that their livelihoods were at stake, but said NOAA would not take an interim step to forestall the catch-limit decrease for a second year.

“Fishermen need help. There’s not a lot of fish and their livelihoods are threatened. We need to help. NOAA’s doing what we can to do that. There’s not disagreement at all from the part of NOAA that fishermen are going to suffer this coming year. We feel that the suffering is more from the fact that there’s very few fish,” Bullard told the News Service.

Bullard said NOAA would be publishing new rules within the next few days attempting to give fishermen access to some haddock, redfish, hake and other fish stocks that are more abundant than cod and yellowtail flounder. Despite Attorney General Martha Coakley insisting that NOAA had the authority to intervene with a one-year measure that would be less harmful than the reductions set to take effect, NOAA insists that the law prohibits intervening for the second year in a row.

“Even if we could find that flexibility, we really have to rebuild these fisheries,” Bullard said. “That takes very painful measures to cut back these stocks and that’s what we’re going to do.”

The state and federal politicians called on NOAA to agree to a smaller, one-year cut of 40 percent to fishing limits, and admonished Congress for not acting to provide disaster relief funding for fisherman.

The Obama administration has already issued a disaster declaration for the fishing industry in Massachusetts, clearing the way for a Congressional appropriation. The Senate unanimously adopted an amendment to the federal budget to provide relief, but U.S. Rep. John Tierney blamed “recalcitrant” Republican leaders for blocking a vote in the House.

“Washington rushes in to help our farmers. Washington needs to rush in to help our fishermen,” Warren said.

Fishermen and the state’s Congressional delegation, state lawmakers, and the Patrick administration also want more funding to be directed to fishery research to improve the methods used to count ground-fish stocks.

Interim U.S. Sen. Mo Cowan, noting his dwindling time left in Senate before a permanent replacement for John Kerry is elected, said he has nothing to lose by being a pest and calling every day for action. “The squeaky wheel gets the oil. I’m going to squeak as loud as I can as often as I can until we get as much oil as we can,” Cowan said.

Coakley called the NOAA regulations a “death sentence” for the fishing industry in Massachusetts that will eliminate $2 billion in economic activity and threaten 80,000 jobs tied to the fishing industry, including those on boats, the workers that unload fish from boats, individuals that clean and cut the fish, and those who distribute fish to the hospitality industry. The economic numbers were based on a report done by the University of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

“I’m hoping, Mr. Bullard, you can help us take the no out of NOAA,” said Coakley, who added that her office has designated a mortgage advocate to focus on helping fishermen stay in their homes.

State Sen. Bruce Tarr, a Republican from Gloucester, said people around the country depend on the New England fishing industry to provide a protein staple of their diets. “Not on our watch are we going to let fishermen be the first species on earth to go extinct from regulation,” Tarr said.

The Pew Charitable Trusts says Atlantic cod stocks are at “perilously low levels,” and suggested that even the best fishing boat captains in the fleet couldn’t find enough cod during the last fishing season to meet match their quotas.

Pew also said the same law being used to replenish the groundfish stocks was successful in rebuilding the scallop fishery, keeping New England fishing revenue strong.

“The cod population is clearly in freefall, and if we overfish then we may push them into extinction,” said Jeff Young, a spokesman for The Pew Charitable Trusts.